Project Gensokyo
by trulyfacetious95
Summary: Project Gensokyo: Highly Eastern Phantasmagorical Mystical Lotus Embodying the Perfectly Immaterial Imperishable Flowering Faithful Wars to all Subterranean Scarlet Fantastic Legends The wonderful girls will have trouble in dealing with Gensokyo's very existence and its state of being known to house the Project of the East. A clash of Human willpower and Gensokyo faith


My third fan fiction I am writing. I will try my best (yeah, that never happens) to write this fan fiction while writing my other one, **Distortion of ****Reality**. There will most likely be time gaps due to me writing my college applications + school, but I hope you do enjoy the series and will await for more releases. I dearly apologize for all inconveniences and do hope to hear some feedback.

I have tried my best to stick to the characters as best represented by ZUN himself and hopefully I have done my job in communicating the Touhou Project to all and the wonderful cast of characters present.

Accredits:

Touhou Project Wiki ( wiki/Touhou_Wiki) for its useful information on the characters and different spell cards.

ZUN for contriving such an amazing series that will live on through the sands of time for eternity.

All those who took the time to read this.

**Project Gensokyo: Highly Eastern Phantasmagorical Mystical Lotus Embodying the Perfectly Immaterial Imperishable Flowering Faithful Wars to all Subterranean Scarlet Fantastic Legends**

**Stage 1: A Life Like Never Before**

**Advent of the Commencement**

Youkai side of the Army

"Come on you Youkai bastards! Is that all you guys can do?!" yelled the "Chinese" Colorful Rainbow Gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion Hong Meirin from atop of a cliff. She was dressed in an olive dress with an olive hat with the word "Dragon" in Chinese etched upon the uppermost part of her dress. She was leading a horde of Youkai that were fiercely fighting the invading forces of Humans that lived outside of Gensokyo.

The Humans were tired of having to live right next to Youkai that ate or at the very least "bothered" them every day, never giving them a single moment of peace. Because of this disturbance, the Humans contacted the outside world (by some reason) and a major army was formed to combat against the non-Human figures in Gensokyo. In the past, the Youkai could easily dispatch the Humans, but in this war, Humans were equipped with the latest technology, so powerful that many minor Youkai didn't stand a chance.

The problem became so significant to the equilibrium of Gensokyo that the AlmightyOver-Bearing Danmaku Master of the Absolute Gensokyo Barriers, Yukari Yakumo, organized a coalition of the strongest in Gensokyo to fight the imposing human army. She, however, could not fight due to the broken borders caused by the forcing in of the humans, so she and her Shikigami (her small ghost/helper so to say), Ran Yakumo, Shikigami of the Youkai of Boundaries, had to travel all around Gensokyo to restore the broken boundaries. Leading the coalition was to be the Everlasting Young Mistress of the Crimson Evening, Remilia Scarlet and her little band of residents from the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Supporting Remilia and Yukari in the battle consisted of many influential figures, such as the Perfect Sakura Princess of the Transient Netherworld, Yuyuko Saigouyji and her Forevermore Steadfast Guardian of Evanescent Spiritualists, Youmu Konpaku, not to mention the entire Youkai populace that reside in Gensokyo. Also in support were The Great Sealed Magician Byakuren Hijiri and her entire Youkai crew among the fantastical magical ship. Begrudgingly, but not wanting to see the end of Gensokyo, were the residents of the Moriya Shrine led by their Embodiment of the Divine Wind Sanae Kochiya in order to see to the survival of Gensokyo.

However, many of the residents of Gensokyo never responded to the requests of Yukari, leaving their decision to the wellbeing of Gensokyo unknown. If Gensokyo is to live to retell its history towards the future generations, the girls will need to fight hard to prevent such destruction from occurring and terminating the existence of the wondrous Eastern lands.

The fighting started with an all confrontation between both sides. Remilia did not want to bother with any kind of strategy and simply wished to enjoy fighting through brute force. She knew that Yukari would disagree with her methods, but because Yukari put her as the leader of all, she assumed that Yukari knew what she wanted her to do.

"Ha! What do you think Sakuya?" questioned Remilia eagerly while sitting on a chair, viewing the carnage going on. She was situated upon a very high cliff where one could see for miles, including the Humans' base of operations, a mammoth of a fortress that literally reached all the way to the Heaven. Remilia was a small (noticeably short), childish-looking girl who looked considerably like a young vampire. She had red eyes, short light-blue hair, and a pair of black bat-like wings on back, fitting the vampire motif. On her head was a pink mob cap and she was also fitted with a dress, with bright red trimming. Sakuya Izayoi, the Fatal Graceful Maid of the Frozen Lunar Dial, was the caretaker for the Mistress and was indebted to her for all that she did, to the point that any favor would be worth risking her life for. She was an enhanced human, one might say, and she was in what seemed to be in her teens. She was dressed in a typical maid uniform, a pink and dark blue French maid's outfit with long sleeves, and a white maid headband on her head. The Roman numerals for 1 through 12 lined the bottom of her apron.

Scouts reported that the fortress spanned a good 10 km in length and an amazing 20 km in width. The entire complex was surrounded by an electric fence that prohibited any entrance except the front entrance, which itself was heavily guarded 24/7 by a multitude of soldiers, tanks, snipers, etc. Not a single gap was visible within the black base and again, the only entrance through the base itself would have been through the front door. However, none of these factors were what surprised the Gensokyo residents the most; what completely blew away their minds was where exactly the top of the fortress lead to. The top of the fortress actually went through a gaping hole in the sky in which one could see what appeared to be space itself. Through it, a world that looked very similar to Earth was visible; it had the exact same physical features, even copying the land masses present. One could surmise that all the reinforcements came from the other "Earth" and that unless the gap was somehow closed off, the Humans would never stop coming to invade.

"Yes milady," replied Sakuya calmly, as always, whenever Remilia asked her a question. She was quite used to her mistress's enthusiastic nature, but still could not help but smile softly at her simplistic view of the world. She looked across the battlefield and could not help but lower her head and grimace to see only carnage and even more carnage. She believed that all this conflicts were completely pointless and that a peaceful negotiation would have been much more civilized. However, her only duty was to forever serve the Mistress Remilia Scarlet, nothing more, nothing less.

"Sakuya! I'm thirsty," complained Remilia as she got up to get a better view of the all out confrontation, "I want some tea, the one mixed with bamboo flowers!" "Yes milady, one moment," replied Sakuya quietly as she went to the storage house right hidden behind the multitude of trees and vines right behind their location. She swiftly moved the plants away and started searching within the storage house. As she found what she was looking for and started heading back to Remilia's location, she suddenly felt an intense amount of energy in the air that was eerily very familiar. She quickly ran across to where Remilia was supposed to be sitting, but to her anguish, she was not there.

"Mistress, don't tell me…," thought Sakuya tiredly as she put the tea down on the ground. Pulling out an old fashioned pocket watch, she checked the time. As she continued looking at it, the second hand started slowing down and it pretty soon completely stopped functioning. Not only that, but the very air itself ceased to howl and nothing moved; time literally stopped. Satisfied, Sakuya closed the watch and put it back in her pocket. "Mistress… I'm coming," murmured a determined Sakuya and she then quickly jumped down the cliff.

On the battlefield, the humans and Youkai were busy brawling, neither side showing any hesitation, nor any mercy. Technologically, the humans far surpassed the Youkai, but a vital mistake they forgot was the fact that Youkai were incredibly physically stronger, with far more endurance. The sides were evenly balanced, at the moment, and the only factor that would tip the entire battle to one side would be sheer numbers. If one side was to have even a couple of more numbers, then the entire balance of the war would shift. For the Youkai, this was a major disadvantage because they were already fighting with every force that was willing to participate while the humans still had more and more men willing to fight alongside their brethren.

Meirin, still ordering from the top of the cliff, deduced that the battle would continue to stay at a standstill until someone decided to enact another plan, one that swayed away from brute force. Turning around and heading towards the small shack that was located right behind her, she then heard a rustle near the bushes and immediately stopped. She quickly leaped forward and did a 180 degree spin to face her pursuers. Behind her were what seemed to be four assassins dressed in ninja attire, all of them carrying knives.

"Ha! You children think you can hurt me with _that_?! How arrogant!" mocked Meirin as she landed. She quickly clenched her fist and started storing Qi, her special energy that flowed strongly within her blood, in them. As the assassins leaped to stab her, she thrust her arms forward and unclenched her hands, palms facing outward. A rush of wind roared behind her and easily knocked the would-be assassins off the cliff. "Yeah!" yelled Meirin at the assassins as she looked down the cliff, "How you like that? You're all not there yet! You're all children compared to 4000 years of history!" She then smoothed out her dress, readjusted her hat, and headed back towards the shack.

In the shack was The Girl of Knowledge and Shadow Patchouli Knowledge, the strategist for the Youkai coalition and a good friend of Remilia. She was a fragile looking girl who was wearing a light purple night robe coupled with a night cap with little colorful ribbons attached all over her attire. She was always carrying a book with her that contained some of the most powerful magic that ever existed in history, but because of her asthmatic health problems and spending all day inside a anti-light library underneath the Scarlet Devil Mansion, much of her health was at its worst, barely enough to walk normally, let alone recite any spells.

For the time being, she was sitting on a chair and on the table in front of her, she had an elaborate map that represented the entire landscape of Gensokyo. Her original plan for the war was to launch a full-scale assault so that she could measure the strength of the humans. She knew that as physically strong the Youkai were, the humans were simply superior in numbers and technology and that a different tactic would be needed and was thinking how exactly she could achieve this.

"What is it… Meirin-san?" inquired Patchouli quietly without looking back, completely taking Meirin by surprise; Meirin wanted to surprise the magician, but was largely unsuccessful, ironically. "How's the battlefront faring?" questioned Patchouli as she drew a line on the map, only to erase it. "It's been better," replied Meirin as she stretched her arms up and yawned, "We're still in a deadlock and neither side is gaining an advantage. Scouts say that the next reinforcement of humans will be coming soon; that's when our troubles will begin. We already have our entire army fighting at full force and we can't risk any other hindrances. What do you think Patchouli-san?"

Patchouli continued to stare at the map and tried formulating all possible scenarios. "First and foremost," began Patchouli as she turned around to face Meirin, "We need to eliminate their vanguard. Seeing their attack patterns, they have been focusing solely on their vanguard. There have been no attacks on either side of our flanks or our rear and it's also strange to see how their vanguard is fairing so well against our full army, to the point that most of our front has been defeated if I presume correctly. I believe that such strength in their vanguard means that they're completely focused on a quick operation to end this war."

Patchouli slowly put her pencil down onto the table and closed her eyes to rest her head a bit. "The appearance of their entire army is even a huge blob at the front," she muttered as she then looked at Meirin with one eye, "To quickly attack with those in the front and then those catching up will eliminate the survivors, the front being the strongest and becoming progressively weaker. If that's the case, Meirin-san, I want you to initiate the pincer movement."

"Pincer movement?" questioned Meirin as she suddenly started focusing, "I haven't heard that one before?" "Really?" said Patchouli with wide eyes in amazement, "I assumed you of all people would know, but oh well. Here are the basics. You will need three groups to use this plan, Groups A, B, and C. Group A will consist of the strongest, most able Youkai you can find. This group will distract and hold off the vanguard of the humans. You have to absolutely make sure that this group can hold off for an extended amount of time without sustaining too many casualties or worse, being overrun. Next, Groups B and C shall consist of not just strong Youkai, but very stealthy and quick Youkai that can easily weaken the opposing force. Group B shall attack the rear of the vanguard, so make sure Group B is _almost_ on par with Group A, but not exactly. Group C shall be similar to Group B, but does not have to be as strong as them, but should consist of more members than either one of the other groups. This group shall attack and hold off the rest of the army so that Groups A and B can eliminate the vanguard. I recommend you stay with Group A so that the strongest part of the vanguard can be distracted long enough for the other groups to attack. By using this plan, I hope that the strongest aspect of the human army can be swiftly eliminated and ensuring an easy victory…. Do you get all this?"

"Hmm, so basically, the goal of this plan is to eliminate the vanguard right from multiple sides?" answered Meirin as she pondered about the plan, "That should work, seems good enough to me. I'll start right away. Let's hope for the best." Saying that, Meirin saluted towards Patchouli and left to start the plan. Patchouli waited a few seconds, sighed deeply, and looked at the map again. "What could the humans possibly achieve with this war…?"

Youkai Camp grounds: Midnight

"Alright you Youkai, this is how we shall commence tomorrow!" yelled Meirin like a general to his subordinates. All the Youkai, even the dimwitted and bloodthirsty ones, were all standing in neat files, looking at their commander in the front. She explained to them how Patchouli wanted her plan to be carried out and all the Youkai seemed pretty content with the plan, just like Meirin was, but most of them were too dull to understand exactly what the plan was and just wanted to fight.

"I will personally lead Group A, the Three Mischievous Fairies, Star Sapphire, Luna Child, and Sunny Milk, will be leading Group B, and Wriggle Nightbug, Rumia, and Hina Kagiyama will be working together to lead Group C with the other Youkai," briefed Meirin to the Youkai in a very loud voice. She had her hands behind her back and was walking sideways continuously. "I've already briefed your leaders with the specific aspects of this plan, so make sure to talk to them later to know what you're doing."

She then stopped and turned to face all of the Youkai. Her face was littered with determination and had high expectations from them, "I only expect positive results from the lot of you; if one of the groups mess up, this entire war will be lost and our very existence! Youkai, today is the day, _today is the day_ that we shall demonstrate to those condescending humans that _we Youkai_ have privileges just like those of everyone else and that we shall _not_ bow down to the so-called omnipresent _homo sapiens_. The survival of the Youkai race rests on your shoulders. Good luck to you all… dismissed!"

All the Youkai cheered in unison and immediately went towards their leaders, excited at the prospect of finally showing their full potential towards the humans that they "co-existed" with. In the past, they were always restricted from unleashing their full potential so as to maintain the balance kept between humans and Youkai, but now this was their one time to demonstrate who exactly were superior.

Battlefield: Midnight

In the midst of the night, all was quiet, only the melodic chirping of the multitude beings hiding themselves within the dense environment. Suddenly, the sound of bullets ripped the silence in the sky and the yelling of soldiers could be heard. "Don't let her get away! Shoot her! What the shit?! She's too fast?! Argh!" So was the end of the night for a couple of patrolling soldiers by none other than the young Scarlet Mistress herself. She was on her midnight stroll and felt like enjoying the crescent moon when suddenly, a couple of soldiers ambushed her. However, Remilia was simply too powerful for the poor soldiers and she easily knocked them out with a few head butts.

"Mere humans, nothing special, I've been through worse," muttered Remilia as she brushed off some dirt from her dress. She looked at the pitch dark sky and could barely make out the stars; she wondered why she left Sakuya's care in the first place earlier in the day. She wasn't particularly bored today, but she wasn't particularly content either. She was tired of the stalemate in the war and she wanted to hurry up and go back to her relaxing lifestyle, but she didn't want to completely miss out on the fun. She personally wanted to see what the Human army was capable of and she planned to do exactly that by invading the Human complex herself.

She then heard a small rustle and quickly shot a crystal like projectile from her fingernails. A "clang" was heard and a figure rose from the bushes. Remilia was surprised for a second, which quickly turned into a small grin. "Excellent job Sakuya, finding me within this darkness, but I expected nonetheless."

"Milady, you do realize the magnitude of the situation that we are currently occupied with, correct?" questioned Sakuya severely as she looked down at Remilia with stern eyes, "Such childish behaviors could easily get you killed." "Of course I do Sakuya; everything we do has a purpose to it, no matter how small the action may be, this one being no different," retorted Remilia as she walked forward in a very lady-like manner, "I'm merely having my midnight stroll, if you haven't forgotten. It's not fun just sitting and watching other people have fun any way. Now if you don't mind, let's go somewhere cooler."

Sakuya simply looked at Remilia and then smiled softly, "Of course Milady, I apologize… she never ceases to amaze me, even in a situation like this, she still treats everything like a game… well milady, shall we be off then?" questioned Sakuya as she looked off into the distance. "Let's," replied Remilia happily as she and Sakuya continued off into the everlasting darkness towards the looming Human headquarters.

**Fight and Only Fight**

From atop of the cliff she was so fond of, Meirin could see the Human's vanguard rapidly approaching the Youkai campgrounds. Just like Patchouli noted, the entire vanguard was a blob and that the people in the front were physically tougher than those in the back. If all went as planned, the entire battle could be ended in a couple of minutes.

Meirin sucked in a deep breath of air and then slowly exhaled. "The entire war rests on my shoulders… if I mess up now, only more deaths will occur… please let this work…." As she waited, all the other Youkai restlessly hid in anxiety within the nature of Gensokyo. They were now just desperate to fight and they were excited at the prospect of defeating the Humans for good.

"Ne, Wriggle-chan," began Rumia, the Youkai of Darkness, who was hiding within the branches of a tree, "Do you think dead Humans taste any good?" She was a small Youkai who had red eyes and short blond hair. She wore a black vest and skirt, and white blouse with a small red amulet tied to the left side of her hair, akin to a ribbon. She simply loved eating Humans and this was one feast she wouldn't miss out on.

"Why ask me? I'm a bug, I don't eat Humans," replied Wriggle Nightbug, A Bug of Light Wriggling in the Dark, with contempt, "Who do you think I am?" She was a tiny little Youkai Firefly, sort of like Rumia, who had blue eyes, teal hair, and, not surprisingly, a bug-like antenna. She wore a white shirt with stylized short sleeves, a black cape covered in red on the inside, and knee-length blue baggy shorts. She usually didn't mind the Humans, but with their sudden appearance and the big black looking piece of stone that was smack dab in the middle of the forest, she didn't really appreciate the scattering of all her fellow people.

"So- nanoka…," muttered Rumia a little disappointingly as she turned her attention back towards the Humans, "I wonder if they're tasty…. Ne, Hina-chan, what do you think of the Humans?"

Hina, Nagashi-hina of the Hidden God, was a petite Curse Goddess who had aquamarine hair and eyes, her hair decorated with very frilly red bows, and part of her hair was tied under her chin with a bow. Her dress was red with white frills on the bottom and an enormous white kerchief on top with the bottom also having a medium aquamarine swirl resembling the "厄" (misfortune) kanji at the bottom. She also wore knee-length black boots that raised her height quite a bit.

"I pity the Humans… they live through so much trouble every day, such a shame. It is up to Goddesses such as myself to make sure justice is served to everyone and no one has to live such miserable lives! Spin I will and spin I shall!" answered Hina fiercely as she clenched her fists and started to sway a little bit, twisting her hips very gracefully.

Rumia was perplexed by what Hina just said; Rumia couldn't believe that Hina actually felt some sympathy for the Humans despite their lower existence. She thought that all Youkai were definitely the superior and that Youkai had the rights to do whatever they wanted to the measly Humans. Oh well, guess all Youkai weren't the same.

In a nearby area, The Three Mischievous Fairies were busy planning out what tricks they would unleash against the Humans. "Ne ne, what if we were to make them see illusions of us when it's really them? They'd shoot each other and all of them would go boom!" remarked Sunny Milk excitedly as she eagerly looked at Star Sapphire and Luna Child.

"Isn't that a little too overboard?" questioned Luna nervously as she glanced at Sunny Milk, "I mean, sure we want to win… but shouldn't the killing be left to the other Youkai?" "She has a point," replied Star as she shook her head, "We're only fairies; leave the brute strength to the stronger Youkai. Our main objective is to stall the main army."

"You two are so boring at times, you hear?" muttered Sunny in exacerbation as she closed her eyes. She knew that their strength was limited with just the three of them and that the Humans were, admittedly, incredibly stronger than they were, but she wanted to contribute immensely to this project.

"Anyway," hastily replied Luna, noticing Sunny's distress, "We should simply do what we've been assigned to do and that is to stall the enemy with our powers. Agreed?" "Mhm, come on Sunny, let's do it, as a team," asserted Star as she stretched her hand towards Sunny. Sunny was silent for a couple of seconds, until she slowly opened her eyes, sighed, and then softly grinned, "You two… where would I be without you guys?"

All the Youkai/Fairies/etc. suddenly heard a faint whistle in the air that rang smoothly across the entire land. That was the signal for the ambush to begin and begin they did. From everywhere, bushes, trees, rocks, even underneath the ground, Youkai, Fairies, and the like charged and rushed the Humans, causing complete panic within the Human ranks. Meirin leapt from the cliff she was observing from and slammed the ground with her Chi embedded palms, causing a giant rupture. Five Humans were sent flying and many more fell into the huge crevasse that Meirin created.

"Attack Youkai!" shouted Meirin with all her might as she dodged bullets being shot at her, "Leave none of them standing! Show them what it means to be a citizen of Gensokyo! This is where all our training and surviving pays off!" The Youkai relentlessly charged straight towards the Humans and ignored whatever came their way. Many were shot down on the spot, but that didn't stop their comrades and instead, ignored the deaths and continued to attack. To them, having a good time, risking their life, fighting, is all that mattered, not even death would stop them.

The Fairies, on the other hand, simply fluttered behind the much stronger Youkai and shot barrages of danmaku (bullet curtain) towards the Human. While the bullet didn't look as threatening or quick as the bullet of a gun, they were just as powerful and what made them deadlier was the fact that one Fairy could shoot up to about 50 bullets per second. Multiply that by thousands of Fairies and the lunacy begins.

"Damn it," thought the leading officer of the vanguard worriedly on the front lines, "I should have seen this ambush coming…! Retreat! The vanguard must survive!" "Sir!" yelled a messenger from the middle of the army as he closed in on the officer, "The vanguard is completely isolated! Part of the enemy forces split the vanguard and it is being attacked from the front and the rear! The rear of the vanguard is struggling and the main army of the enemy is preventing our main army from advancing any further!"

The officer started panicking and he quickly looked around. The messenger wasn't lying; the front and the rear of the vanguard were being annihilated, and he was in the middle of it. "If this continues, we will be completely destroyed… what can I do…?"

At the back of the Human army was the Human's most excellent gunner, survivor of over hundreds of wars, most renowned for never getting injured once in close or long ranged combat, Shou. He was a buff man who wore the standard military uniform that the Americans commonly employed; he didn't like the ones the Japanese used, besides, green was always better. All around his waist were holsters that carried different pistols and on his back were a sniping rifle and a sub-machine gun. He had messy chestnut hair and his usual light skin tone was dark due to hours of being under the sun every day. At the moment, he was looking through a pair of binoculars while sitting in an army jeep and he was seeing the Humans struggle futilely against the Youkai.

Shaking his head in disgust at the failure of the army, he tossed the binoculars to a nearby attendant. "Hmph," he thought as he started wiping his .45 ACP semi-automatic pistol and started signaling the driver to get ready to depart, "I told him not to advance so recklessly with the vanguard. But did he listen? No, of course not, baka. Guess this means I have to go and fix everything… again."

"Wait a minute general!" quickly shouted a messenger from the complex. Shou stopped his movements and glanced backwards. "What is it?" Shou replied impatiently as he began to load his other weaponry, "If boss wants me to massage his back again, tell him to make Hibiki do it. I've already done it four times in a row."

"It's not that general!" panted the messenger as he stopped to catch his breath, "Supreme Commander gave the order for the entire army to retreat to the complex! He commanded that all fighting to be stopped and for everyone to evacuate!" The messenger expected Shou to be understanding considering the status of the vanguard, but instead, he found Shou to be laughing.

"Hahaha!" laughed Shou as he took out his MAC 10 and started loading a magazine, "Retreat?! Baka! He really is becoming senile! Where is your trust in your men you old geezer?!" He then pointed his finger towards the highest point of the tower and glared straight there, "Who do you think I am? Do you think_ that_ will end this war? You are surely mistaken. Who needs _that_ when you have me?!"

With indignation, Shou signaled the driver of the jeep to prepare leave and ordered his platoon to embark. "Tell the boss," commanded Shou as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, "To leave the whole thing to me… and that it will be _me_ who ends this folly." The driver sped away at the wave of Shou's hand and his laughter died within the noise of the battlefield.

Top of Human Complex

At the top of the tower inside the highest room where Shou recently pointed were four men, three of them standing with one man sitting behind a desk. They just saw Shou, who clearly just ignored the master's order, depart for the battlefield.

"There goes Shou, baka," replied the scientist looking man as he shook his head, "Completely ignoring the boss's order… again. When will he listen like the good dog he is supposed to be?" The man was a tall figure with a lab coat that stretched all the way down to his feet. He wore black goggles that completely obscured his eyes and a cloth that covered his entire mouth. His hands were always in his coat pockets and they rarely ever left them; only when he was distressed or fighting were they out for a little bit. His caramel hair was a sorry mess, sticking up everywhere and all over his face, as if he had just woken up. Much time researching left his skin pale and haggard and he certainly did not look healthy.

"Leave him be, Naoe," replied the gentleman wearing a butler's uniform as he looked at Naoe, "The master has not given the order; therefore, we shall not move." The gentleman was in fact a butler and his duty was to take absolute care to protect his master, no matter what the situation may be. So was the rule lived by Kiyoshi, the man who considered his master to be the one and only thing that was to be considered in the world. Appearance wise, he was another tall man, never slouching, who looked the typical butler, giving an air of professionalism off, whose hands were always behind his back. He wore white gloves and had two katanas attached to his waist and a huge great sword and a holder with multiple scrolls on his back.

Suddenly, the master rose up from his chair and started walking towards the windows. He was a proud man, a man who had served the army for over 40 years. He wasn't very old (his silver hair belied his age), but his face gave off a veteran aura, an aura representing the true definition of suffering. He wore a tight white vest and tight black pants that gave him the impression that he was attending a formal event. On the top of his head was the standard military hat and on it was labeled "日本"(Japan). He had a majestic black cape that fell down to his waist and he had an elegant, spellbinding sword that was attached sideways on the back of his waist and two pistols that were attached to the sides of his waist. He looked down and remained silent for a couple of minutes, leaving the other men waiting to see what he would do next. Every move had to be planned out carefully, no mistakes could be made when fighting, not a single one. All must go according to plan. "Hibiki," he muttered as he looked straight in front of him.

"Hai," the third man in the room muttered slowly as he bowed down. Hibiki was a gigantic man, the biggest and tallest one in the room, and he was heavily clad in military armor, to the point where not a single bit of flesh was seen; not even his hands, which were covered by thick metallic gloves. His face was covered by a helmet that had a jet black visor, completely obscuring his eyes. He was pretty much the medieval knight except in modern terms. On his front were two sub-machine guns and around his waist were a multitude of pouches that were full of miscellaneous items. On his back was an M79 Grenade Launcher and what appeared to be a medieval shield that spanned a diameter twice as big as Hibiki's body.

"Take the secret project and from the top of the cliff, I want you to release her," commanded the master as he then took out a small box and pushed the button on it. There was suddenly a small rumble and from a far corner of the room, a hole full of light and icy mist poured out. From it, a human-sized capsule emerged and in it, one could only see frozen frost. Hibiki marched towards the capsule and lifted the whole thing with one hand onto his shoulder.

"Show them how capable we Humans are at instigating fear," the master commanded as he moved his arm in an arc towards the Youkai, pointing straight in front of him, "Show them, the power of the Human Race!" "Hai," muttered Hibiki as he slowly left the room, capsule in shoulder trudging along with each step.

When Hibiki left the room, Naoe looked at the master and sighed, "You really don't like taking it slow, not even back then. Must everything be done on cue?" The master simply ignored him and walked towards his desk. He then rapped it three times, causing a secret room to open behind the master's desk. In it, one could see multiple computer screens, each showing a different part of the other world, Earth.

"I must report back to headquarters. You're in command until I return, Kiyoshi," muttered the master as he entered the secret room. The door quickly sealed, giving no trace that a room ever did exist. Naoe slowly scratched the back of his head and then continued to look down towards the battlefield. "What a pain," thought Naoe tiredly as he put his hands back into his pockets, "You really don't want to waste any time at all, do you… Takeshi?"

**Nightmares**

"That's it everybody! Continue to press the attack! The Humans are retreating!" yelled a wounded Meirin triumphantly as she continued to fend off the Humans with her bare fists. She was shot and cut in many places, but she went through worse with trainings with Sakuya and knew what true pain was.

As she was about to charge with the other Youkai, she felt a bullet shoot right past her face, leaving a small line of blood on her face. She quickly halted and could see a lone man standing from on top of a jeep with what seemed to be a sniper rifle. She quickly jumped backwards and avoided another bullet that almost hit her foot.

"Damn it… he's trying to ruin the organization of the army," thought Meirin as she continued to jump, dodging bullet after bullet, "Who does he think he is anyway? And what kind of human has that kind of reloading speed?"

She wasn't lying; as soon as the sniper was done with one magazine, in the blink of eye, he would replace it with another one. His accuracy was also seriously deadly; if her years of training hadn't improved her speed, she would have been shot a long time ago. It was as if he knew where she was going to move and it was because of her second instinct that helped her dodge.

"She's a good one," thought Shou as he continued to shoot his Howa M1500 at the Chinese dressed girl in the battlefield, "Guess sniping from here won't do anything." He quickly sat back in the seat of the jeep and signaled the driver to go full speed ahead.

Meirin finally stopped to catch her breath as the barrage of bullets stopped, but then she noticed that the jeep with the sniper in it started charging straight towards her. "Heh, sucks to be you. I personally prefer close combat," she thought smugly as she wiped a streak of blood from her face. She then stood up straight and clenched one of her fists, storing Chi in it.

As the jeep got closer and closer, Meirin stored more and more Chi until finally, her hand was giving off a yellow glow. When the jeep was 5 meters in front of her, she slammed her fist into the ground and a huge wall of earth appeared. The driver tried to swerve out of the way, but was going too fast to turn and crashed head on into it.

However, she noticed that there was only the driver, the sniper was gone. She quickly looked up and saw the sniper was high in the sky. He quickly attached his sniper rifle onto his back and then pulled out his MAC 10 and.45 ACP semi-automatic pistol from two of the holsters on his waist. He fired from the air and his accuracy, amazingly, was even deadlier than his sniping; it was literally raining bullets. Every single bullet he shot was only mms from hitting Meirin and that was with her fully concentrating.

The man then landed on the ground and instantly charged straight towards Meirin. Before she knew it, the guy was spinning diagonally like a top and he was shooting while so, so quickly that the "top" was shining with the spark of bullets. All of it happened so fast that all Meirin could do was guard from the bullets with her arms.

Shou quickly stopped his turning and then pointed his two pistols towards Meirin. She quickly reared back and raised her fists. "Not bad for a mere Human," Meirin spoke as she took a couple of step backwards, "Your skills are commendable even by us Youkai." "Bah, spare me the flattery," spat Shou condescendingly as he walked forward the same amount of steps, "All of you _things_ are mere beasts that need to be taught a good lesson on status." "Hmph," replied Meirin contemptuously as she flicked her hair over her shoulders, "Say that _after_ you win."

As Meirin charged towards Shou, a heavy tremor in the air interrupted her attack. "What the hell was that?!" thought Meirin as she suddenly felt very chilly inside, "This power… it feels, so familiar…." "Damn it, so he decided to really do use it," thought Shou as he quickly stored his weapons away. He pushed a button on his MAC 10 and out of the sky came flying a mechanical glider.

"Don't think this is over," stated Shou as he raised his arm, "I will be back… and I will make sure that you are the first one shot down!" "Matte!" yelled Meirin as she ran towards Shou to try to stop him. Shou then pulled out a purple ball and threw it at the ground. Purple smoke swiftly fogged the whole area with Shou quickly gliding away on his glider towards the complex.

The purple smoke wasn't any ordinary smoke however; it was poison smoke and Meirin already inhaled generous amounts of it. She could already feel the poison spreading throughout her entire body, rendering her unable to move her body. "Damn it," thought Meirin painfully as she clutched her chest, collapsing onto the ground, "I can't… end like this! We're so close… to winning… this… war…."

Meirin all of a sudden felt a strong pair of hands grab her by the legs, pulling her out of the poison smoke. She felt a breath of fresh air, but the poison was already in all her systems, rendering her completely paralyzed. Even her vision was blurred; she could barely make out two figures in front of her, a small girl and a teenager. "Hurry up and feed her the antidote before she passes out on us," commanded an all-too familiar voice (the smaller one) as she walked away to see something, "Try not to let her die, but if she does, don't fret over it." "As you wish milady," replied another nostalgic person (the taller one) whom immediately pulled out a small vessel.

Meirin immediately felt a cool liquid run down her neck and before she knew it, she was up and standing again. Energy surged throughout her body and she literally felt 100 years younger. "What kind of drugs were those?!" yelled Meirin in disbelief as she quickly faced her two saviors, "And when the hell did we have something like that?! Give me some more of that stuff!"

As she had predicted, they were her senior and co-worker, Remilia Scarlet and Sakuya Izayoi respectively. Remilia had a smug look on her face while Sakuya had her eyes closed, hands folded in front of her, silent. Before the reunion could be settled, however, there was an unexpected flash of light in the air close towards the Human complex.

The trio quickly turned around and saw a huge, iron man standing on top of a cliff with a huge capsule next to him. "Who is that man, and why is there a capsule next to him?" thought Meirin worriedly as she clenched her fists, "There's something not right with that capsule… it feels… familiar."`

As if on cue, the capsule's cover made a hissing sound and the cover was then raised up. Out of it appeared not only the chilly mist, but also a girl, completely encased in ice. The man picked up the slab of ice and then threw it high into the air. From one of the windows of the Human Complex then appeared a butler looking man with two katanas. He leapt towards the ice and before the trio knew it, the butler was on the ground (jumped a good kilometer) with his katanas sheathed. There were multiple cracking noises and from the ice emerged a young girl; she had dark red eyes, black hair, and a large red ribbon in hair. In her hand was a gohei, with many paper seals attached in streamers. She wore a red and white dress remotely similar to a shrine maiden's outfit with detached sleeves leaving her shoulders uncovered and a red neckerchief.

The girl was floating slowly in the air and she had her hands dropped in front of her; her head was bent down and her eyes were closed. She seemed to still be recovering from the period of inactivity in ice and looked as if she could barely live. However, her left arm twitched, then her right, and finally, she was standing upright, having a blank pair of eyes. She slowly raised her right arm outward with the palm facing out; an unexpected concentration of invisible energy came charging out of nowhere and everything that was in front of her, trees, plants, Youkai, unlucky Humans, even the ground, were all sent flying into the air, being completely destroyed.

Even the trio, whom were a couple of kilometers away from the girl, could feel themselves being ripped to shreds by the sudden energy blast. "Damn it! What the hell is this?!" thought Meirin painfully as she was lifted crazily in the air, "I have never seen this much power before!" "Sakuya! Now!" yelled Remilia, who too was lifted in the air. "Hai!" yelled Sakuya back as she quickly pulled out her pocket watch and tangled it around her arm with her hand holding the clock itself. Ripping the cover open, she aimed it towards the other two then everything became deathly silent, nothing moved.

"Whew, that was too close," muttered an exhausted Sakuya as she wiped her forehead. Before she could do anything else, she felt something hit her pocket watch. She looked down and saw that it was a sealing tag with the kanji 爆発 (explosion) written on it, but it was too late. There was a huge explosion and the time was no longer frozen; Sakuya was hit by the impact and was rendered unconscious. The invisible energy was no longer present and all was quiet in Gensokyo once again.

Aftermath of Attack

All three were unconscious and laying helplessly on the floor, knocked out by the unbelievable energy sent by the girl. Walking towards them were Hibiki, Naoe, Kiyoshi, Shou, a couple of soldiers, and the girl. They were simply too amazed (no one knew about Hibiki because no one could even see his face) at how that little girl could practically annihilate the entire Youkai army and a good portion of the Human Army with one attack. They knew that she, Reimu Hakurei, was one of the strongest members of Gensokyo and that if she was to fall, so would the Hakurei Border, meaning that both the Human World and Gensokyo would experience catastrophic consequences.

Naoe whistled softly as he examined the destruction, "I never knew such power existed in Gensokyo… this makes us Humans look absolutely feeble." He looked backwards and examined Reimu. She practically looked like a zombie with her blank eyes looking down at the ground, not even twitching or swaying, completely still. It was him who gave her new abilities that far surpassed the simple sealing tags, gohei, and other energy manipulation attacks she used (he admitted, though, that they were quite strong, stronger than he had ever anticipated).

"Tch, this is overkill you know that?" replied Shou as he kicked a stone. He still had his glider on his back and his arms were crossed in front of his chest, "You could have just left this to me and I could have not only defeated the leaders but also spared the lives of our men! What the hell were you guys thinking?!"

Shou's temper was rising and he looked as if he was going to kill someone, literally. He couldn't stand the idea of his men being simply slaughtered as an experiment and then just simply forgotten. He suddenly turned towards Reimu and pulled out an army knife. Dashing towards her, he aimed the knife right at her heart, but before he could go any further, Hibiki grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him straight into the air.

"Wha-what the hell you idiot?!" yelled Shou in disbelief as he tried to break free from Hibiki's iron grasp, "Release me at once you lumbering piece of…!" Before he could finish his statement, he was injected with a needle into his neck and he soon became mute; his eyes closed shut, his body becoming motionless.

"Sorry pal," muttered Naoe as he cleaned off his needle with a disinfectant wipe, "Business is business, no matter whom or what is sacrificed in the process. Sorry to ask you such a favor, but do you mind holding onto him, Hibiki-san?" Hibiki merely nodded and slung Shou over his shoulder as if he was merely a piece of clothing.

"The war is not over yet," remarked Kiyoshi quietly as he walked forward to inspect the fallen, "There will be others who will fight to avenge their fallen comrades. We must not lower our guards yet. Soldiers… take the bodies for further inspection." "Hai!" answered the soldiers as they started unpacking their supplies for transportation of live/dead bodies.

Before they could proceed any further, however, they stopped dead in their tracks when saw a lone ghost appear out of nowhere. Many of the soldiers were told that ghosts would be an issue in Gensokyo, but they never actually prepared for it in their training. That one ghost soon became two, then four, then eight, until the whole area was teeming with unknown beings. Many of them started panicking and they dropped their supplies and ran away from the area, too frightened at having to face an unknown enemy.

Kiyoshi then felt a presence not too different from the ghosts, but one that did stand out. He instantly unsheathed his katanas and charged straight into the field of ghosts. He sliced at the spot where he noticed a different energy pattern, one that was more alive, and as he had predicted, there was an opposing force. He could immediately deduce that what blocked his attack was another sword, but he felt that this person knew what he/she was doing.

Kiyoshi quickly sheathed one of his katanas and pulled out his great sword from his back. He reared it behind him with one hand and then swung it full force downwards onto his other katana that was blocking the unknown force. The ground beneath the unknown force trembled and cracks were starting to appear; from it, transpired a small human with dark blue eyes and short silver hair. She had a katana with a cherry blossom insignia and flower attached and a wakizashi (short Japanese sword). She had a dark green and white dress with several ghost insignias along the edges and breast pocket and a black ribbon placed off-center on her hair. Next to her what seemed to be a formless phantom that was about as big as the girl that was frantically floating around, worried about its master.

She was struggling to barely keep the great sword and the katana from crushing her by holding her own with her katana and wakizashi. "Ho, you are quite powerful little girl," commented Kiyoshi as he couldn't budge any further with his attacks, "Most people would have collapsed long ago. I applaud you. But this ends now."

With his foot, he kicked the holder on his back and from it, one of the scrolls flew into the air. It opened and from it appeared a wakizashi similar to that of the girl's. As it fell towards him, Kiyoshi grabbed the handle with his mouth and slammed it towards his already pressuring katana and great sword.

The girl, however, quickly retreated backwards, causing Kiyoshi to hit the ground instead. Copious amounts of the ground went splattering a gigantic crater was visible, Kiyoshi standing right in the middle of it. "Most impressive," thought Kiyoshi as he spat the wakizashi onto the ground and planted his katana and great sword into the ground, "Your reflexes are most commendable.

He immediately kicked his wakizashi into the air and caught it, blocking an attack that seemingly came out of nowhere. It was in fact the small girl who had come at such an incredible speed that anyone any less experienced than Kiyoshi would have been cut on the spot. She continued to bombard Kiyoshi with multiple blows faster than the human eye could see; however, Kiyoshi just as easily parried all the blows with his wakizashi and he looked as if he was taking it easy.

"Oy! Kiyoshi-san!" yelled Naoe from afar, "You know, our mission was to collect Remilia Scarlet right?!" "Of course I remember," replied Kiyoshi as he ducked low. He aimed straight at the girl's heart but then her ghost interfered with his vision. He jumped backwards and noticed that not only was the girl was gone, but so were all the ghosts and the fallen leaders.

"Shit, I was too preoccupied with a decent opponent," thought Kiyoshi as he landed back towards the rest of the crew. With a wave of his hands, his katana went flying and sheathed itself and his great sword reattached to his back. He pulled a clean scroll from his pocket and threw it and his wakizashi into the air. A puff of smoke and then the wakizashi was sealed back into the scroll, which Kiyoshi caught and dropped back into his holder.

"You looked like you were having fun," replied Naoe as he adjusted his goggles. "I was," replied Kiyoshi as he smoothed his hair out, "In my life, she is a first. If only more people like her existed, my skills would not rust." "Well, what are we going to do now? We lost our target, Remilia Scarlet." "Hmm, that is a fact, but no matter. If we have Reimu Hakurei, then there is no way we can lose. And besides, do not forget that we have our own allies as well that do not agree with the ways of Gensokyo. Right now, we vastly outnumber all of their forces because Reimu swiftly annihilated the Youkai army. All left now should be only the influential members of the army, no more weaklings. Hibiki-san, you know where to go next." Hibiki nodded slowly and headed towards the Human Complex to get ready for his assignment.

"This time, we Humans will not be daunted by anything," muttered Kiyoshi as the morning sun could finally be seen, "We will show everyone and everything, who we are."

**End of Stage 1**


End file.
